The Stranger - Billy Joel

The Stranger is Billy Joel's fifth studio album and his commercial breakthrough, produced by Phil Ramone and released on Columbia Records in September 1977. The album features Joel's touring band — drummer Liberty DeVitto, bassist Doug Stegmeyer, and multi-instrumentalist Richie Cannata on saxophone and organ — and was recorded over three weeks. Its nine tracks range from piano-driven rock and character sketches of New York working-class life to introspective ballads, with Joel drawing on pop, rock, and touches of jazz and R&B. "Just the Way You Are" became his first major hit single, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Three more singles charted in the Top 40: "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "She's Always a Woman," and "Only the Good Die Young." The seven-and-a-half-minute "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" became a concert staple despite never being released as a single. The album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, where it remained for six weeks, and became Joel's best-selling non-compilation release. Rolling Stone later placed it at number sixty-seven on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums.